This impressive anthology presents the reader with an introduction to a gallery of public intellectuals through the critical eyes of a wide array of contributing writers from various academic fields. Both the latter and the public intellectuals themselves are responding to the state of American higher education. Importantly, most of them (there are a few public intellectuals in the book who cling closer to the status quo) do not separate colleges and universities from the political, economic, and social currents of American society. They attack the realities of growing social inequality, the intractable presence of institutional racism, and the recurrent reliance on the free market as the arbiter of value. Public intellectuals assess the impact of these social factors on the organization and practices of contemporary American higher education. They force the reader to consider serious challenges to the current arrangement of higher learning and, as such, they ask us to assess the efficacy of their respective perspectives. Do they present the reader with insight or idealism, pathways or dead ends? This compendium provides an abundance of ideas for higher education leaders, policy makers, faculty members, trustees and governmental officials as well as social theorists and graduate students interested in higher education careers.""-Richard Guarasci, President Emeritus of Wagner College Just as our society is polarized, higher education is no less divided as to its mission and purpose, whether it should be preparing students for employment or for engagement as citizens, whether it should be corporatist and profit-driven or promote intellectual curiosity and independent thinking, and whether it should pursue a neoliberal agenda or promote a liberal education. Whose scholarship, culture and epistemologies should be validated? Should it be a private or a public good? Preserve tenure or erode it? What role should colleges and universities play in addressing economic inequality and systemic racism? The answers to these questions are critical for the future of our society as our universities and colleges are the nurseries of the values and philosophies that shape it. The chapters in this book review the contributions of seventeen public intellectuals who have been at the forefront of these issues and significantly contributed to these debates. Each describes the genesis of each scholar's ideas and presents and critiques his or her core insights and arguments. The seventeen public intellectuals represent a spectrum of opinion, from the conservative to the progressive. At this pivotal moment when much of higher education is in economic crisis, and public trust in it has been eroded, this book offers a robust entry point for considering the options and directions ahead for anyone in a leadership position. The book will also be valuable for higher education courses to stimulate debate about these critical issues and introduce readers to the seminal thinkers in the field. Public Intellectuals Presented Stanley Aronowitz Michael Berube Marc Bousquet Patricia Hill Collins Lori Patton Davis William Deresiewicz Stanley Fish Marybeth Gasman Henry Giroux Sara Goldrick-Rabb Amy Gutmann Russell Jacoby Randall Kennedy David Kirp David F. Labaree Christopher Newfield Michael Roth

Just as our society is polarized, higher education is no less divided as to its mission and purpose, whether it should be preparing students for employment or for engagement as citizens, whether it should be corporatist and profit-driven or promote intellectual curiosity and independent thinking, and whether it should pursue a neoliberal agenda or promote a liberal education. Whose scholarship, culture and epistemologies should be validated? Should it be a private or a public good? Preserve tenure or erode it? What role should colleges and universities play in addressing economic inequality and systemic racism? The answers to these questions are critical for the future of our society as our universities and colleges are the nurseries of the values and philosophies that shape it. The chapters in this book review the contributions of seventeen public intellectuals who have been at the forefront of these issues and significantly contributed to these debates. Each describes the genesis of each scholar's ideas and presents and critiques his or her core insights and arguments. The seventeen public intellectuals represent a spectrum of opinion, from the conservative to the progressive. At this pivotal moment when much of higher education is in economic crisis, and public trust in it has been eroded, this book offers a robust entry point for considering the options and directions ahead for anyone in a leadership position. The book will also be valuable for higher education courses to stimulate debate about these critical issues and introduce readers to the seminal thinkers in the field.

Student Activism in the Academy: Its Struggles and Promise is a wide-ranging, provocative survey of student activism in America's colleges and universities that critically analyzes the contentious problems and progress of a movement that has stirred public reaction in and out of academe. Its fundamental purpose is to engage diverse publics in both reasoned and passionate reflection and soul searching on vital issues that surround campus protest. Thus, the essays in this volume respect the need to consider how to weigh freedom, fairness, safety, and protection inside and outside the walls of ivy. Their authors ponder the big picture of student activism, including: strategies for student activism the role of social media and technology legal questions on campus speech the dilemmas of political correctness generational differences among student activists and various forms of student protest related to race, class, gender, and disabilities. Both professional and student voices prompt us to better comprehend academic realities with more hope and wisdom. Administrators, faculty, students, and student life personnel in higher education-indeed, all those interested in today's colleges and universities--will want to participate in the timely and productive dialogue within these pages.

Student Activism in the Academy: Its Struggles and Promise is a wide-ranging, provocative survey of student activism in America's colleges and universities that critically analyzes the contentious problems and progress of a movement that has stirred public reaction in and out of academe. Its fundamental purpose is to engage diverse publics in both reasoned and passionate reflection and soul searching on vital issues that surround campus protest. Thus, the essays in this volume respect the need to consider how to weigh freedom, fairness, safety, and protection inside and outside the walls of ivy. Their authors ponder the big picture of student activism, including: strategies for student activism the role of social media and technology legal questions on campus speech the dilemmas of political correctness generational differences among student activists and various forms of student protest related to race, class, gender, and disabilities. Both professional and student voices prompt us to better comprehend academic realities with more hope and wisdom. Administrators, faculty, students, and student life personnel in higher education-indeed, all those interested in today's colleges and universities--will want to participate in the timely and productive dialogue within these pages.

Today's colleges and universities are facing mounting criticism from both internal and external interest groups and constituencies. While strident calls for reform accelerate, resources for higher education have weakened. Thus, demands to improve college education abound amidst hard times. This timely book, Making College Better: Views from the Top, offers more rational and practical responses to that public outcry by allowing college presidents and chancellors from a wide variety of postsecondary institutions the opportunity to address, in measured ways, many complex issues and how they might be untangled. Moreover, these academic leaders provide possible remedies to make college better through more strategic policies and practices. Making College Better will appeal to all those interested in the future of higher education, including students, college administrators and other higher education personnel, parents, legislators and other officials, and public and private sector leaders. It is especially useful for courses in the organization and administration of higher education, the college presidency, contemporary issues in higher education, foundations of higher education, higher education and society, and college student development.

Today's colleges and universities are facing mounting criticism from both internal and external interest groups and constituencies. While strident calls for reform accelerate, resources for higher education have weakened. Thus, demands to improve college education abound amidst hard times. This timely book, Making College Better: Views from the Top, offers more rational and practical responses to that public outcry by allowing college presidents and chancellors from a wide variety of postsecondary institutions the opportunity to address, in measured ways, many complex issues and how they might be untangled. Moreover, these academic leaders provide possible remedies to make college better through more strategic policies and practices. Making College Better will appeal to all those interested in the future of higher education, including students, college administrators and other higher education personnel, parents, legislators and other officials, and public and private sector leaders. It is especially useful for courses in the organization and administration of higher education, the college presidency, contemporary issues in higher education, foundations of higher education, higher education and society, and college student development.

The last half century has created deep tensions in how we analyze educational and social change. Educators, policymakers, and concerned citizens have had to cope with competing belief systems in evaluating and acting upon school policies and practices. This illuminating book untangles many of the roots of those persistent debates that have divided the nation for so long. It offers readers a critical opportunity to reflect on our continuing ideological struggles by examining popular books that have made a difference in educational discourse. The editor has specifically selected key books on social and educational controversies that speak to wide audiences. They frame contextual issues that so-called "school reformers" have often neglected - much to the detriment of any real educational progress. Ultimately, this text is meant to stir our consciences, to disorder our certainties, and to compel us to treat education and culture with both reason and passion. It is highly relevant for courses in social foundations of education, school reform, educational policy studies, philosophy of education, history of education, politics of education, curriculum studies, and teacher education.

Higher education and society are becoming increasingly intertwined. Both act as a transmitter of culture, yet many colleges and universities also ideally seek to create a more perfectible society and more enlightened, engaged citizens. When the connections between social structures and post-secondary education are closely entangled, the university's aims can take on a contentious struggle for identity in a vexing web of competing external interests - especially in light of scarce economic resources, corporate pressures, technological questions, and globalizing trends. Higher Education and Society weighs the urgent question of how society and higher education influence each other. How the latter responds to that unsettled issue may well determine whether colleges and universities chart a more self-reflective path or one of rising deference to societal contingencies. This book is essential for all those who study and work in today's colleges - and for all those who seek a better education for their children, the nation, and the world. It is especially recommended for courses in higher education and society, contemporary issues in higher education, the philosophy of higher education, academic issues in higher education, leadership in higher education, and globalization and higher education. The book is also useful for the preparation of faculty development programs in colleges and universities.

Higher education and society are becoming increasingly intertwined. Both act as a transmitter of culture, yet many colleges and universities also ideally seek to create a more perfectible society and more enlightened, engaged citizens. When the connections between social structures and post-secondary education are closely entangled, the university's aims can take on a contentious struggle for identity in a vexing web of competing external interests - especially in light of scarce economic resources, corporate pressures, technological questions, and globalizing trends. Higher Education and Society weighs the urgent question of how society and higher education influence each other. How the latter responds to that unsettled issue may well determine whether colleges and universities chart a more self-reflective path or one of rising deference to societal contingencies. This book is essential for all those who study and work in today's colleges - and for all those who seek a better education for their children, the nation, and the world. It is especially recommended for courses in higher education and society, contemporary issues in higher education, the philosophy of higher education, academic issues in higher education, leadership in higher education, and globalization and higher education. The book is also useful for the preparation of faculty development programs in colleges and universities.

America's undergraduates truly represent a mind-boggling diversity. Today's College Students: A Reader looks at a wide variety of student groups and identities, which sets it apart from other texts on contemporary college students that do not cover such a broad spectrum. The editors and contributors also invite students, their instructors, and other college/university practitioners to be mindful of the crucial, yet sometimes overlooked, connection between extra-curricular campus activities and learning. Sustaining educational moments throughout the undergraduate experience, in and out of the classroom, is why colleges exist. This volume thus reminds us that both social interaction and individual critical reflection are vital collegiate processes, especially in an age of consumerism and the McDonaldization of higher education. Ultimately, the text seeks to reinforce and augment the rich diversity that can make college more rewarding for us all. It is especially useful for courses devoted to today's college students and diversity, the multicultural university, college student development, and student affairs administration.

Today's colleges and universities face countless uncharted challenges and possibilities. They are often prized as national treasures, yet, in tough economic times, they are becoming a major focus of contestation and controversy. This richly comprehensive survey takes a frank look at both polarities of the puzzles of academe. Presenting multiple perspectives on a wide array of crucial issues, the book features realistic representations of students, faculty, curriculum, administration, and the socio-cultural conditions that shape higher education. The incisive essays are written by practitioners on the front lines of the academy's battle to validate and sustain its core principles in a complex, rapidly evolving world. They afford valuable insights into the postsecondary scene for all who seek to nurture its development in these uncertain, troubled times. The text will appeal to students, faculty, administrators, student life professionals, and policymakers who shape human potential. In the end it will leave them with sobering thoughts about the present and future of higher education, an institution that still warrants their constant care and vigilance.

New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt/M., Oxford, Wien. In Mind Fields, Thomas J. Cottle argues that the period known as adolescence is essentially a social construct influenced greatly by popular culture. To understand young people, therefore, is to recognize how the very consciousness of adolescents is shaped by a culture, dominated by the entertainment industry, and the power of television and the computer, constantly urging them to turn away from the normal evolution of their personal and social lives. In this fundamentally distracting environment, young people explore their consciousness, sharing it with others, as well as form their sense of identity, all the while having these most inner experiences affected as much by the culture as by their own temperaments and personalities. It is the culture that determines the forms of recognition and independence, as well as intimacy and attachment that adolescents must learn. In the end, the author argues for the value of self-reflection as a critical ingredient of identity formation and a fundamental antidote to distracting cultural influences.

Focusing on crucial issues in higher education, this book challenges readers to go beyond taken-for-granted assumptions about America's colleges and universities and instead critically examine important questions facing them in today's troubled world. Each chapter presents divergent perspectives, that is, "pro" and "con" views, in the hope of stimulating reasoned dialogue among students, faculty, administrators, and the public at large. Readers will explore how internal factors in the academic community often interact with external social, economic, and political influences to produce conflictual results. They will see that academe is hardly value-neutral and inevitably political. This book urges them to transcend strident political persuasion and instead engage in the careful analysis needed to make colleges better. The text provides in-depth appraisal of key topics of controversy: the purposes of higher education, liberal education, academic freedom, political correctness, tenure, shared governance, faculty workload, admissions tests, student learning, Greek life, the worth of college, equity and social justice, athletics, student entitlement, technology and distance instruction, and college amenities. The book will appeal to students, faculty, staff, and all those interested in the future of higher education. It is especially useful for courses in contemporary issues in higher education, foundations of higher education, higher education and society, college student development, and the organization and administration of higher education.

Focusing on crucial issues in higher education, this book challenges readers to go beyond taken-for-granted assumptions about America's colleges and universities and instead critically examine important questions facing them in today's troubled world. Each chapter presents divergent perspectives, that is, "pro" and "con" views, in the hope of stimulating reasoned dialogue among students, faculty, administrators, and the public at large. Readers will explore how internal factors in the academic community often interact with external social, economic, and political influences to produce conflictual results. They will see that academe is hardly value-neutral and inevitably political. This book urges them to transcend strident political persuasion and instead engage in the careful analysis needed to make colleges better. The text provides in-depth appraisal of key topics of controversy: the purposes of higher education, liberal education, academic freedom, political correctness, tenure, shared governance, faculty workload, admissions tests, student learning, Greek life, the worth of college, equity and social justice, athletics, student entitlement, technology and distance instruction, and college amenities. The book will appeal to students, faculty, staff, and all those interested in the future of higher education. It is especially useful for courses in contemporary issues in higher education, foundations of higher education, higher education and society, college student development, and the organization and administration of higher education.

The last half century has created deep tensions in how we analyze educational and social change. Educators, policymakers, and concerned citizens have had to cope with competing belief systems in evaluating and acting upon school policies and practices. This illuminating book untangles many of the roots of those persistent debates that have divided the nation for so long. It offers readers a critical opportunity to reflect on our continuing ideological struggles by examining popular books that have made a difference in educational discourse. The editor has specifically selected key books on social and educational controversies that speak to wide audiences. They frame contextual issues that so-called "school reformers" have often neglected - much to the detriment of any real educational progress. Ultimately, this text is meant to stir our consciences, to disorder our certainties, and to compel us to treat education and culture with both reason and passion. It is highly relevant for courses in social foundations of education, school reform, educational policy studies, philosophy of education, history of education, politics of education, curriculum studies, and teacher education.